The Grass Is Greener
by Gemini Star01
Summary: COMPLETED! Because of a magic spell, Kari and T.K. are Digimon, while Gatomon and Patamon have become human! Is there a way to change back, or are they stuck like this forever? And what's the secret of Sorceressmon's Master?
1. The Old Switcharoo

This fic is like a bad houseguest. You know, the kind that come in, eat everything in your fridge, and then refuses to leave until you do something about them. Well, this one's actually a pretty good idea…Takari mainly, with sides of Kenlei…The beginning's a little slow, but from there it picks up…Just wanna thank whoever did that cool little piece of fan art I saw somewhere that had human forms of Gatomon and Patamon, 'cause that sparked my idea, and if anyone has any suggestions on the plot I'd be glad to hear 'em.

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Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, Tamers may never have existed, Takari would have been a set couple, we would have settled the whole 'Dark Ocean' thing once and for all, and 02 would've lasted a whole lot longer. Enjoy…

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_We all thought about it. I mean, how could you not? Watching them fight, sharing their energy, being their friends…how could we not think about what it would be like? To be a real Digimon?_

I used to think about it a lot. If I could switch places with Angemon, fight the forces if evil, for real! It's a cool dream.

Doesn't mean I wanted it to be real.

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The Grass Is Greener…

Chapter 1: The Old Switcharoo

It all started with a simple trip to the Digital World. It was summer, and at the same time, it was sweltering.

"Jeez louise!" Davis groaned, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He'd already removed his flame-decorated jacket and his gloves, both which were sitting next to him on the grassy hill. "It must be a hundred degrees out here!"

"Actually, it's a hundred and two." Ken muttered, checking his watch. It was a real fancy one that had a thermometer and everything.

"Thanks for telling us, Sherlock." Davis snapped. He didn't mean to be rude, it's just that the heat made him grumpy and irritable.

Yolei put her gloves into her helmet with a sigh. "Who cares how hot it is." she groaned, dropping to the ground next to Hawkmon. "Can't we figure out a way to get out of it?"

"We could always go to the ice region." Cody suggested. A slight growth spurt had happened, now he was about as tall as Kari and Davis.

"Nah." T.K. muttered, pulling his hat down over his eyes. "That's too cold. We need an in-between place."

Patamon lifted his ears up so they wouldn't make him so hot. "I know a bit of a river around here."

"A river?" Kari asked, sitting up.

"Yeah!" Veemon sat up. "I know what you're talking about!"

"It's a great place to cool down." Patamon explained. "And it's got the widest beach anywhere, with soft white sand dunes as far as you can see."

"Sounds good to me!" Davis said, standing and everyone quickly agreed.

After a fifteen-minute walk, and an extra ten across the dunes, they reached it at last. Patamon was right, the smooth white sand was almost blinding when it reflected the harsh light. But around the river were lots of tall, branched-out trees. The kind with big, glossy green leaves and spread-out limbs that reached out over the water, some making a kind of curtain and all providing some great shade around the river.

And what a river it was! It was at least a mile wide and perfectly crystal clear and glass-like, in a way that you could see all the way down to the very bottom. Parts of it were at less than two feet deep, others over ten. And it was cool and gentle and oh so refreshing.

Quite soon the edge of the bank were littered with stacks of discarded items, including six multi-colored D-3s, six D-Terminal pocket computers, Yolei's brown helmet with her gloves and glasses inside, Davis's flame jacket and yellow gloves, Kari's camera, T.K.'s hat, Ken's watch, and the various different kinds of shoes with socks stuffed inside them.

The kids rolled up their pants legs and waded into one of the shallow parts of the river. It was quite enjoyable to feel the cool water rushing against their feet and ankles, but it was rather dull until Davis 'accidentally' knocked into T.K., who wound up face-first in the direct current.

"Whoops." Davis said rather fakely. "Sorry, T.S."

T.K., still on his hands and knees, spat some water out of his mouth. "Davis?" he said, looking up sneakily through his sopping bangs. "It's T._K_."

__

With that, he grabbed Davis by the ankles and flipped him onto his back into the water. Davis sat up, sputtering, then almost immediately sent a wave of water at the other boy. T.K. splashed back, and soon they were going at it like a couple of ten year olds.

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Thank goodness _some_ guys mature when they get older." She shot a glance in the direction Ken had been, but he wasn't there anymore. He'd decided to get into the act and was now splashing and laughing right along with them.

Yolei heaved an exasperated sigh. "Really!" she muttered to Kari. "Those boys just don't know when to quit."

Kari grinned at her friend out of the corner of her eye. With a quick movement, she kicked Yolei's legs out from under her, sending the older girl splashing down. She'd asked for it.

With a quick movement from Yolei, Kari was right in the water with them, and now almost the whole group of kids were laughing and splashing each other, except for one.

"Come on in, Cody!" Kari called, dog-paddling in the deep water. "The water's great!"

"Uh…no thanks." Cody denied, sliding the other way. "I'll just wade over here…"

Davis looked at T.K. T.K. looked at Davis. The locked eyes and nodded. At the same time, they came from behind Cody, picked the boy up under the arms, and dumped him into the river with a SPLASH!

The only ones who stayed out of the water all together were Gatomon and Hawkmon. When asked why, they had only to comment each in one sentence:

"Wet feathers make for bad flying, Yolei." replied Hawkmon in his deep English-accented voice.

"I'm a cat." said Gatomon simply. "What makes you think I wanna go swimming?"

So they remained on the side and relaxed in the shade while their partners and friends splashed in the river. After a while their clothes started to get heavy, so the boys pulled off their shirts and swam bare-chested. The girls, being unable to do such a thing in polite public, just had to live with the heavy sagging of their clothes and tried not to drown in the deeper waters.

After an hour of this, the group pulled themselves on-shore and lay out on the bank to dry off. In half an hour they were semi-dry and, besides being covered in sand, feeling quite good about themselves as they put their stuff back on and began the long walk towards the DigiPort home.

It was halfway through the dunes that they were attacked.

"Do you think we can come back tomorrow?" Yolei was asking, when a purple blur zipped forward and knocked Patamon off T.K.'s head, sending the Digimon flying into the dunes and knocking the boy to the ground.

"T.K.!" shouted Patamon, flapping his wing-like ears to steady himself over the dunes.

"You okay?" Kari asked as T.K. sat up, rubbing his head.

"I'm fine…" he groaned. "What was that?"

There was a deep, feminine laugh. In front of them suddenly stood a purple, human-like Digimon. She had pale skin and dark purple robes that covered her entire body. The hair was black and reached to the waist, with black gloves and creepy green eyes. In one hand was a tall, silver staff, topped with a purple orb.

"What in the name of…" Cody started.

"What is that?!" Yolei blurted out.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The Digimon gave a bow as T.K. stumbled to his feet. "I am the almighty Sorceressmon, the Lady of the Dark Arts."

"Dark Arts?" Kari asked as T.K. stood.

"Witchcraft and sorcery." Ken explained. "Old magic."

"But of course." Sorceressmon stood. "Now, to discuss the conditions of your surrender…"

"Surrender?!" Davis scoffed. "What makes you think we'd surrender to _you_?"

Sorceressmon's eyes narrowed. From her finger tips, she shot a spark of purple fire at Davis, and it missed him by about have an inch. "Because." she said simply as he dodged it. "If you don't I shall be forced to destroy you."

"Over my dead body!" shouted Veemon.

"That can be arranged." hissed Sorceressmon, flying high, high up into the air with no wings. She began to concentrate her energy on the orb of her staff, getting ready for the attack.

"Um…anybody else think we should Armor Digivolve about now?" Armodillomon asked.

Cody nodded. "Right." each of them, except Ken, took out their D-Terminals.

"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!"

Veemon, Armor Digivolve to…Raidramon!

Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve to…Halsemon!

Armodillomon, Armor Digivolve to…Digmon!

Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to…Nefertimon!

Patamon, Armor Digivolve to…Pegasusmon!

Wormmon, Digivolve to…Stingmon!

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon slashed at Sorceressmon with his blade. She dropped back, and the orb stopped glowing.

"Why you…" she growled. "Purple Flame!"

A ball of fire hit Stingmon in the chest, knocking him back. Raidramon roared forward. "Thunder Blade!" he fired the attack for Sorceressmon, and at the same time, Digmon fired a Gold Rush.

The two attacks hit at the same time, but neither did anything. Sorceressmon had blocked both. "Have to do better than that!" she taunted.

"Darn! She blocked it!" Davis muttered under his breath.

"We'll never get anywhere this way." Pegasusmon whispered. "If we can get a Golden Noose around her, she should be easy picking."

The others nodded. "Okay." Yolei agreed from Halsemon's back. "Kari, you and T.K. circle around back, we'll keep her busy down here 'til you make it."

Kari and T.K. nodded at the same time, then mounted their Digimon partners and slid in among the sand dunes, crouching around back of their foe.

Sorceressmon grinned as she felt the two creatures circle around her. She'd been studying these kids a long time, as she slowly built her army of Digimon slaves. She knew these tactics. When she heard two great pairs of wings soaring up behind her, she knew it was time to strike.

"Sorcerer's Spell!" she shouted, spinning around and swiping her staff in the direction of the two children and their partners.

For a moment nothing happened. Nothing they could see or hear anyway. Nefertimon and Pegasusmon hovered in mid-air wondering what the trick was.

An invisible force suddenly struck them at the same time. And not just the Digimon, but their partners as well. They cried out in pain as the Digimon were thrown on their backs, T.K. and Kari only clinging on by a hair. They crashed into the dunes fifty feet away.

"Kari!" Davis shouted.

"T.K.!" called Cody.

"Nefertimon! Pegasusmon!" shouted the Digimon.

Stingmon spun around. "Where'd Sorceressmon go?!" he called, and indeed, the purple Digimon was gone.

"No time for that now, Stingmon!" Ken called, hurrying up the side of the dune. "We have to make sure T.K. and Kari are okay!"

The Digimon returning one-by-one to Rookie form, the group scrambled up the edge of the first dune, slid down the next, and ran up the side of the one closest to where their friends had crashed.

"T.K.! Kari!" the called, coming to the top. "Are you guys…"

They stopped short and nearly fell down the dune. Two humanoid figures sat in the crater, but they sure weren't their friends.

The first was a girl, just about their age, and strangely familiar. Her eyes were a most remarkable, almost unnatural, shade of bright blue. Her hair was waist-length and white, parts of it streaked what looked like a very pale purple. She wore a sleeveless white shirt with a yellow neckerchief, yellow shorts, white shoes with purple laces, tall white socks, and yellow gloves with odd orange stripes on them.

The other was a boy, also their age, but just as oddly familiar. He had those same bright, remarkably blue eyes. His hair, however, was short and shaggy, and a bright orange color. He wore an short-sleeved orange T-shirt with a red stripe around the middle, slightly baggy blue jeans, and white and black shoes.

These two oddly familiar kids were looking at their arms and bodies with wide eyes, like something amazing had just happened or they were just getting used to their life. The DigiDestined on the hill looked at them, then at each other.

"Do you know these kids?" Yolei asked.

"I've never seen them before." Cody shrugged.

"This is where they crashed, isn't it?" Davis asked, looking around.

"I'm sure it is…" Ken began, but about that time both kids looked up at them.

There was an uncertain silence for a moment. Finally, Davis spoke. "Uh…hi there…"

The two kids on the ground turned to each other. "Gatomon?" the boy asked the girl.

"Patamon?" she responded.

This time, Yolei really did fall down the dune.

The two kids stood shakily, getting used to their legs. Then they guy reached down to help Yolei to her feet. No one could think of anything to say, until Veemon came cautiously up and sniffed the air around the girl.

His eyes widened. "It _is_ you, Gatomon!" he cried in surprise.

"WHAT?!" The DigiDestined all stared at the two kids. Now that they thought about it, they did look quite a bit like the two Digimon.

Cody tried to work it out slowly. He turned to the boy. "Patamon?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." he agreed.

Cody turned to the girl. "Gatomon?"

"Yup." the girl looked up sheepishly.

That's when it spilled. "You're…You're _human!!_" cried Davis in shock.

Patamon and Gatomon waved their arms around. "Don't look at us!" Gatomon cried.

"We don't know how it happened!" Patamon insisted.

"But…But if you're human…" Ken scanned the area. "Where are T.K. and Kari?" 

There was a burst of sand from the side, followed by another. Two tiny Digimon came rolling down, head-over-heels, and came to a stop on the ground, spitting up sand and rubbing stuff out of their eyes.

One was a cat, clinging to Kari's pink D-3 in her mouth and a D-Terminal in her paws. She looked exactly like Gatomon, except it was that same auburn-brown color of Kari's hair, and its eyes were a deep, rich brown. There was no tail ring or gloves. The other was a Patamon, but a Patamon with deep golden-blonde fur and crystal-clear blue eyes. He held T.K.'s green D-3 and D-Terminal, both of which were much to big for him.

Gatomon and Patamon knelt down next to them, and the others leaned over their shoulders. "T.K.? Kari?" they asked.

The two Digimon looked up. "Gatomon?" asked the cat in Kari's voice.

"Patamon?" asked the other, in a voice distinctly T.K.'s, if a bit higher.

Patamon picked T.K. up and brushed the white sand out of where the tiny arms couldn't reach. "Gatomon?!" Kari insisted. "What the heck happened? I'm a cat!"

"More like a Digi-Cat." Gatomon muttered. "We switched places."

"How?" T.K. asked. He was now sitting in Patamon's arms. "How'd it happen?"

"It must have something to do with Sorceressmon's attack." Ken muttered. "Just before she fired it, she called 'Sorcerer's Spell'. Somehow or another, it must have done this."

Cody shook his head. "We've got a problem."


	2. It's No Joke

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Thanks to Maddie, who sent in some pretty neat ideas regarding this fic. Also, to Salamon2, who sent me an e-mail a little while ago, basically giving me a kick and said "Hey! Someone likes this stupid thing! Write more, would ya?" 

When it comes to future chapters on this, I'll say it like Bugs Bunny: **"WE NEED YOUR HEEEEEEEELP!"** (Space Jam) The reason? After a bit of an idea for the next Ch. Or two, I'm blank! E-mail, review, whatever you have to do! Just tell me what to write!!!

You know what? It's really weird in this fic to write 'T.K. was sitting on Patamon's head' instead of the other way around. Feels strange.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon and I probably never will. To bad though, this is entertaining.

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Grass Is Greener

Chapter 2: It's No Joke

Tai hurried down the hall towards Davis's apartment. He'd been soccer practice, but the message had said 'Emergency Meeting' so he'd had to hurry over.

He rang the bell. Davis answered. "Hey Tai." he greeted the older boy. "Come on in, you're the first one here."

The two kids quickly slid back to Davis's room. Tai had expected to see all the younger DigiDestined, but instead he was met by Yolei, Ken, Cody, and two new kids he'd never seen before, while T.K. and his sister were no where to be seen.

"Who're these guys?" he asked.

The kids already in the room glanced at each other uncertainly. "So we don't have to tell the story over twenty times…" Yolei began

"Maybe we should keep the introductions until after everyone gets here." Ken finished for her.

So Tai sat on the bed and waited patiently. Slowly the older DigiDestined trickled in a took their places. They were all impatient to know what was happening.

"Alright then." Yolei sighed, shutting the door behind Joe when he hurried in from class. "That's everybody."

"Hold on a sec." Sora said. "Kari and T.K. aren't here yet."

The younger DigiDestined glanced at each other nervously. "Well…" Ken started.

"Actually…" Yolei muttered.

"They are." Cody finished.

The older DigiDestined glanced around. "Where?" Tai asked. "Are they hiding in the closet or something?"

"Down here Tai."

Tai looked around. "Where?" he finally asked.

A brown cat with brown eyes pushed its way up into his lap. "Right here." it muttered in his sister's voice.

Tai looked down in surprise. The cat grinned at him sheepishly. He picked it…her…up. "Kari?" he asked.

There was a bit of shocked silence, then Matt laughed. "Okay, okay, great joke you guys." he said with a grin. "Now where's the microphone?"

"It's not a joke, Matt." sighed the new boy. He glanced down at his partner, sitting in his lap, then back up at the older boy. "I'm…Patamon."

The reaction was…to be expected. I suppose we should just about leave it at that, because it consisted mainly of a lot of yelling, fighting and disbelief from all the DigiDestined, until the younger ones finally got the story out.

  
"So let me get this straight…" Joe messaged his temples. "You were hit by that attack, and then switched places?"

Gatomon, Patamon, Kari and T.K. nodded. "This is wild." Sora shook her head. "Gatomon and Patamon are human…Kari and T.K. are Digimon…"

"Any ideas on how to switch us back, Izzy?" T.K. asked. He was attempting to get used to the ears-as-big-as-he-was part and finding it very tiring.

Izzy shook his head. "We'd have to get the exact opposite frequency of the one used to switch you in the first place. And even then we'd have to be extremely careful." he brushed his hair back, talking more to the others than to the subjects at hand. "Even if a mistake didn't kill them, we could switch them permanently, or, rather embarrassingly, do something like turning Kari in a boy and T.K. in a girl…"

The two Digimon both blushed deep scarlet. Matt quickly made an attempt to change the subject. "So…what can we do?"

"Nothing right now." Izzy sighed. "I'm afraid we'll have to find Sorceressmon and get her to reverse the effects somehow."

"In the meantime?" Gatomon asked, and even as a human she purred slightly as she talked.

"In the meantime…" Izzy sighed. "We'll just have to let do. I suppose Gatomon and Patamon can work the Digivices because they're sitting here, so we'll just have to search until we find…"

Kari suddenly let out a gasp, sitting straight up in Gatomon's lap. "How're we ever gonna explain this to our parents?!" she cried.

"Oh, shoot!" T.K. was suddenly alert too. "I forgot about that! Mom's gonna freak!"

Tai and Matt had both gone slightly pale. It was obvious they'd forgotten about the fact that it would probably be up to _them_ to explain exactly why their siblings were stuck like this.

"Well…" Tai swallowed slightly. "I guess…we'll handle it…"

~ * ~ * ~

"Sorceressmon." the dark figure hissed. "Have you done your work?"

"As you commanded, my lord." the Digimon was knelling. "The whole group is in a state of mass confusion."

"Excellent." her master hissed. "I so do love watching such an entertaining show. I hope they enjoy themselves."

"Your orders, sir?" Sorceressmon asked, standing.

"Yes…Tomorrow, as soon as you see them. Send your slaves. That should take care of them, once and for all.."

~ * ~ * ~

Kari awoke early in the morning. She and Gatomon, as well as the boys, hadn't had a very good night. Her mother had fainted on the spot, while it took Matt an hour and a half to calm Ms. Takaishai down. After that came a long time of explaining and scolding and yelling and crying. By the time they finally got to bed, none of them could figure out how to sleep right.

Gatomon still wanted to curl up on top of the bed, and often knocked her partner to the floor. Kari wanted to stretch out under the covers, got too hot during night, and sometimes scratched Gatomon's legs up with her claws. Patamon's head felt cold the whole time, and T.K. kept rolling over and getting caught in his own ears. Sum it up to say that none of them got a very good night's sleep.

Restless, Kari jumped to an open window. She had no idea Digimon had this much untapped energy in the Real World. She didn't like being cooped up. She wanted to get outside.

She checked the clock. It was 6:25. Gatomon wouldn't miss her for about half an hour or so.

Kari pushed the window open and jumped to the ledge just beneath, then after a few more leaps, landed on the fence that separated an alleyway, and finally onto the ground.

She yawned and stretched as she began around the neighborhood. It was a beautiful morning, with crystal clear blue skies and only a couple of small clouds crossing over. So calm…so peaceful…

Until she ran head-first into a small pack of stray dogs. 

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. yawned widely. He sat on the rail of the apartment's balcony, gazing over the city. He was bored. 6:45 PM, and he'd been lying around after a sleepless night. But he wasn't really tired, just bored out of his skull. Maybe Digimon didn't need a lot of sleep. Maybe it was just because he'd never Digivolved. Whatever. He was wide awake.

There was the loudest commotion from down below him. From the sounds of it, a bunch of dogs were casing some poor cat around the neighborhood.

He glanced down, and nearly fell off his perch. "What the…That looks like Kari!" he gasped, and indeed it was. She'd stumbled into the gang of dogs and they'd chased the little cat around mercilessly.

"Hang on, Kari!" he called, hoping she could hear. He then glance up, and tried to compose himself for flight.

There was just one little problem…He hadn't quite gotten the hang of his ears yet. He'd practiced the night before, while Matt tried to get their mother to calm down. First he'd gone backwards for quite a bit, then run into the walls for a while. Now he was going forward, and had a pretty good sense of direction, but he was still a weak flier and at the mercy of every stray wind. Of course, he didn't pay attention to any of this, and simply jumped into the air and hoped for the best.

First off, he plummeted two stories down without doing much of anything. Then he finally caught a cross breeze and went tumbling forward, head-over heels. Then flap… flap…flap…and _finally_ going in the right direction, while bouncing up and down quite a bit.

"Okay." he muttered to himself. "Maybe we take the stairs next time…"

Meanwhile, Kari was cornered in the back of an alley, facing the pack of snarling, snapping, barking dogs. She back up against the wall, and automatically her fur bristled all over.

_Okay, okay…just think._ she urged herself. _I'm a Digimon, not a cat. I've got to have some sort of strength or power or something. Just what is it?! Oh, come on girl… Think think think think think think think……_

With a sudden rush, a ball of clear air burst through the dogs and hit the wall above Kari's head. The dogs and Kari were more surprised then scared at the odd spectacle. "That looked like…Patamon's Boom Bubble…" Kari muttered to herself.

With a loud cry, something that looked like a ball of gold came barreling into the dogs, crashing into three of them. The dogs, not knowing what exactly this thing was, decided not to risk it for a cat and bolted, as the yellow ball hurled into a stack of boxes with a disgruntled _OOMPH!_

Kari blinked, then hurried over and peeked inside the mountain of collapsed cardboard. "T.K.?" she called uncertainly. "You still in one piece?"

The blonde creature sat up, shaking the dust out of his ears. "Did I get'em?" he asked dizzily.

"With the Boom Bubble? No." Kari grinned. "But your flying scared 'em off."

T.K. stood on his fours and shook everything off. Kari giggled at him. "Okay, okay, I need a little more practice." he grinned sheepishly.

"Anyway, you got me outta a tight spot there." she said, smiling. "You saved my life."

"N-No problem…" he muttered, turning red under his fur.

__

My gosh, he's shy. she thought with a giggle.

__

He took to the air a moment later and hovered above her. "Need a ride home?" he asked, grinning again.

"I think I'll walk, thank you."

T.K. perked his ear up a moment. There was a faint call from a couple of streets over. "T.K.! T.K., where are you?!"

Patamon. And he felt fairly certain Gatomon was calling the same thing out Kari's bedroom window at the moment, so they split up and went back to their partners.

~ * ~ * ~

"I do not believe you two!" Yolei exclaimed when she heard the morning's fiasco. Kari and T.K. grinned sheepishly at each other. They were in the Digital World, searching for Sorceressmon.

The others were quiet enjoying the little story, although Gatomon and Patamon were rather vexed by it. They'd already told Kari and T.K. they'd been worried to wake up and find no one, although it was quiet obvious.

But before anyone could mention more, an explosion sounded from over the hill. With a crash, a Drimojimon leapt out from behind the grassy mount, roaring and growling.

"What in the…?!" Davis gasped, leaping back.

"Maybe it's having a tantrum!" gulped Yolei nervously.

They ruled out that idea as the Drimojimon crashed one of his paws into the mountain side, missing Gatomon and Ken by a couple of inches. In about ten seconds, Hawkmon, Armodillomon, Veemon and Wormmon had Digivolved to their Champion forms, leaving Gatomon, Patamon and their partners to watch.

After a bit of battling, however, the Drimojimon implied a tactic that including burrowing below the hills, then popping up unexpectedly.

"You can feel the tremors underground!" Ankylomon said. "He's moving that-a-way!"

"I bet he's from Sorceressmon!" Cody called. "Which means if we follow him, we could capture her!"

"Then let's get moving!" Stingmon buzzed, scooping up Ken.

Davis, Yolei and Cody either climbed on or were carried by their partners, respectively. But as they hurried off, the two remaining humans and their partners ran after them. "Wait a sec!" Patamon shouted. "What about us?!"

"You guys stay here!" Ken yelled back at him. "You could get hurt if you come along like this!"

The group of four slide to a stop. Gatomon glanced at Patamon out of the corner of her eye, then tossed her white hair back angrily. "He could've just said 'you'll just get in the way' and it would've sounded better."

About half a mile away, the rumblings underground finally stopped. The kids slid off of their partners and glanced around, but they saw nothing. "Where do you suppose he…" ExVeemon started, when the Drimojimon burst out of the ground and threw him into the air.

"ExVeemon!" Davis shouted, but the Champion landed on his feet.

The Drimojimon roared back. "Drill Spin!" he shouted, and fired the attack for Ankylomon.

"Tail Hammer!" shouted the yellow Digimon, an attack that would have easily overcome the Drimojimon's. But this time, the Drill Spin not only made in through, but destroyed the Tail Hammer and threw Ankylomon to the ground.

"What?!" Yolei gasped.

"Something's very wrong here!" Cody gulped.

~ * ~ * ~

Meanwhile, despite all warnings, the four that had been left behind were trudging across the hills. T.K., sitting on Patamon's head, suddenly perked up his large ears. "I hear it." he muttered. "Doesn't sound good."

"What'd you mean?" Kari asked. Gatomon was carrying her, and she was looking up at T.K. "What's the matter?"

T.K.'s ears were raised, listening and trying to put it into words. Patamon tried to put it more spessificaly. "What do you _hear_ T.K.?" he asked. "What kind of attack blasts, how often and how strong?"

"There's one big one." T.K. explained. "Then several small ones, very weak. I think the strong one's Drimojimon."

"But that's impossible!" Gatomon insisted. "Drimojimon just aren't that strong!"

"Well, whatever's happening." Kari muttered. "I have a feeling they need help. There's got to be something we can do."

Trying to pick up the pace a bit, they all had the same wonderings through their minds. Then finally, T.K. got an idea, and he jumped so suddenly he almost fell off Patamon's head. "I've got it!" he shouted, flapping his ears to hover near his partner's head.

"Got what?" Gatomon asked.

"You two have our Digivices, right?" T.K. was so excited he wasn't listening to much else. Gatomon and Patamon nodded. "Well then, I think we can Digivolve!"

Kari hit the ground in shock, then sat back up. "What?!" she shouted. "T.K… We're not really Digimon!"

"So?" T.K. grinned and landed next to her. "We're still in Digimon bodies! I bet we could do it! All we have to do is share energy, just like we always do! Only this time _we'll_ be the ones that change!"

Patamon knelt down so he could look his friend over. "You've wanted to do this a long time, huh?" he asked.

T.K. just gave him a look. Patamon nodded. Gatomon and Kari locked eyes, and they both knew it too.

"Alright then." Patamon stood. He gripped the green Digivice in his palm. "Let's go for it!"


	3. Angelic

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I hate cold weather, I hate cold weather, I hate cold weather…I'm locked inside all day, and it's ruining my inspiration! I get all my ideas by riding around on my scooter and talking to myself, neither I can do inside the house when it's 40 degrees outside!! I thought Texas was suppose to be HOT!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but I shall as soon as I finish that giant Mecha I've been working on in the secret lab under my garage…You didn't hear that.

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Grass Is Greener…

Chapter 3: Angelic

The Drimojimon struck out and threw Aquilamon to the ground. Yolei ran to her partner, and with a flash he turned back into the Rookie form. "Hawkmon!" she gasped, scooping him up. "Hang in there!"

"Something's really wrong here, you guys!" Ken called. "Drimojimon just aren't that strong naturally! This is a set up!"

"Man, now what?!" Davis insisted. "They're about to get crushed, and we can't do anything!"

Drimojimon was, in fact, raising his head for one last attack against Stingmon, who was already on his knees and keeping Ken back. The Digimon roared, then aimed his attack. He opened his mouth to call out the name…

"Hand of Fate!"

The golden blast knocked Drimojimon back, and everyone's minds for a loop. It was defiantly Angemon's attack, but sure wasn't his voice. And, looking up from where it had come from, they still didn't understand.

"Hey guys!" Patamon came scrambling down the hill, Gatomon behind him. "Isn't it wild?!"

"What…the..?!" was all Davis could manage.

"T.K. and Kari Digivolved!" cheered Gatomon.

"_Digivolved?!_" the humans gasped, then Cody added "So…They're…"

Patamon pointed up. "T.K. turned into an Angemon, like me!"

"And Kari's an Angewomon!" Gatomon was grinned from ear to ear.

And indeed it was true, but not Angemon and Angewomon as they knew them. On Angemon you saw more of T.K.'s taunt basketball mussels than the body-builder type, and Angewomon was no where near as developed. Not to mention, Angewomon's hair was brown, while Angemon's was golden and a richer yellow. And their clothes weren't as tight. What it really looked like was that Kari and T.K., in their normal bodies, were dressed up as Angemon and Angewomon for Halloween or something. But there was the odd fact that they still had wings.

Currently, they were flying together over the battle field. Kari giggled at her friend. "You have to admit, _this_ is cool!"

T.K. nodded. "I never thought we'd actually do it!" he cheered. "But here we are…flying! On our own!" he did a quick roll. "No help…No hands!"

Kari grinned and nodded, about to answer, when she noticed Drimojimon was getting his stride again. "My turn." she grinned, and flew above their opponent.

Concentrating her energy the way she'd seen T.K. do, she managed to make the silver arrow appear in her right hand. Automatically, the small, decorative wings on her left wrist extended into the familiar white 'bow', onto which she set her arrow, pointing it at Drimojimon with careful aim.

"Steady now…" Gatomon muttered. "It's not easy."

But Kari looked determined. "Celestial Arrow!" was called, and she released the shot. It hit Drimojimon head-on, and the Digimon cried out in pain.

"There!" Patamon laughed. "Now we got 'em beat!"

But, to everyone's surprise, the Drimojimon pulled himself back up. He fired a Drill Spin at Kari, but she dodged it easily. "Dang!" Davis muttered. "That guy just won't give up!"

"Something doesn't feel right!" Kari called down. "I don't feel the same way about this Digimon like others!"

"What?" Yolei asked. "What do you mean?!"

"She means, it's not a real Digimon!" Stingmon buzzed. "I feel it too!"

"And me!" Ankylomon put in. "I think the only way to beat this guy is to destroy him!"

T.K. glanced sideways at Kari. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Lets." she muttered, and readied her bow again, while the other Digimon also prepared their attacks.

"Ready?" Davis called. "One…Two…Three!"

"Vee Laser!" called ExVeemon.

"Tail Hammer!" Ankylomon shouted.

"Hawk Beam!" Hawkmon, though back in Rookie form, put in his two bits.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon threw his in, releasing the blade.

"Hand of Fate!" T.K. thrust the golden ball forward.

"Celestial Arrow!" Kari finished the wave, and all six attacks hit at the same time. With a cry, and rather strongly, a puff of smoke, the Drimojimon vanished. At the same time, the Digimon returned to their Rookie forms, including T.K. and Kari.

"I repeat." Kari said as Gatomon scooped her up. "_That_ was cool!"

T.K .was still sitting on the ground, but he noticed something. "Hey! Guys, look at this!" he called.

Patamon picked him up, along with the small thing he had with him. He was just as confused. "It's a doll." he finally stated. "Made outta wood. And check it out…It looks like a Drimojimon."

At it was…A tiny wooden doll, about half T.K./Patamon's size, shaped and carved perfectly like a Drimojimon out of oak. "Where'd it come from?" Veemon asked.

"I dunno." Yolei muttered, looking at it closely. "I think I'll take it to Izzy. Maybe he can figure it out."

"I wonder…" Kari muttered.

"What?" Gatomon asked.

Kari shook her head. "Nothin'." she responded. "Nothin' at all."

~ * ~ * ~

"I'm sorry, Lord." Sorceressmon whimpered. There were long red marks on her face and arms. "I won't let it happen again, I swear."

"See that you don't!" snapped the dark form. "Remember what happened on your last great failure!"

"Yes, sire…" whispered Sorceressmon. "Never again…"

~ * ~ * ~

"You're _WHAT_?!?" T.K. cried, falling off the desk he sat on.

"Gatomon and I are going to a movie." Patamon muttered, turning a little red as he tried to make his hair behave. "And then down to that ice cream shop you and the others always go to in the summer…"

"You're going on a _date_?!" T.K. cried. He had once again taken to the air, and was hovering about the same level as Patamon's head. "With _Gatomon_?!"

"Somethin' wrong?" Patamon asked coolly.

T.K. tried to recompose himself and landed on the bed. It was Saturday afternoon, after all. It was perfectly normal for a teenager to do. A teenage human, that was.

"It's just that…" he stuttered, trying to get it into words. "I…I hard no idea…I mean, you and…and _Gatomon_… I had no idea…"

"What?" Patamon turned. "I guess I do a better job of hiding it than you do with _Kar-ee._"

T.K. turned red. "You said you wouldn't mention that!" he snapped, and Patamon laughed. He'd once found a picture of Kari, doodled absentmindedly on the back with hearts and scribbles that read 'T.T. + K.K. 4ever.'

"Alright, alright." Patamon said, still laughing a bit. "I said I wouldn't tell anyone, and I won't." T.K. calmed down, disgruntled.

"Besides…" Patamon continued, turning away. "She's coming over."

T.K. started again. "_Who's_ coming over?!" he squeaked.

"Kari." Patamon said simply. "Gatomon's bringing her over. We figured you two would enjoy staying over while we're out…"

T.K. turned so red that it shone brightly through his blonde fur. "_Kari_?" he gasped. "She's…staying over…_why_?!"

"No one's home at her place, either." Patamon explained, picking his partner up. "And it's very lonely, not to mention tiring, staying by yourself and all."

The doorbell rang. "That'll be them." Patamon said cheerfully. He set T.K. down on the counter, and the creature nervously, absentmindedly, stroked down his ears, like trying to get his hair to done.

Patamon opened the door and grinned. Gatomon was there, smiling, with Kari's backpack over her shoulder. "Hey Patamon." she grinned. "Ready to go?"

"I am." Patamon nodded.

He took her bag and set it on the couch. Kari's fuzzy brown head popped out of the top. "Gah!" she spat out what looked like a ball of lint. "I had no idea it was so uncomfortable in these things!"

"It'll make you think next time, huh?" Gatomon taunted.

"At least I clean it out for you!" Kari argued. She pulled herself out of the bag and shook a few candy wrappers, a crumpled note and some lint out of her fur. "Yuck-olla."

T.K. laughed and flew over to the couch next to her. He picked up the note to throw it out, when the letters 'K.K….T.T…' caught his eye. _What the…Does she? Could she…?_

But before he could look further, Kari snatched it out of his hand, blushing. Holding it in her mouth, like a mama cat with a tiny kitten, she ran to the trash can and threw it in.

"We're outta here." Patamon called to T.K. "You guys have fun…Watch a movie or something."

T.K. gave him a rather helpless why-are-you-doing-this-to-me look. Patamon grinned at him, then lead Gatomon out the door.

__

T.K. groaned inwardly. What now? From the look on Kari's face, she was awkward too. T.K. flew to the rack of tapes, picked a comedy from the top, put it into the VCR, and settled down next to her on the couch to watch.

~ * ~ * ~

Patamon and Gatomon, meanwhile, picked a rather nice movie to watch. It was a horror film, involving a serial killer, some screaming girls, and one really stupid 'hero', but they were both tickled pink. It was their first film, for either of them.

As it wore on, it was obvious that Gatomon was more of the flirt than Patamon could ever be. Maybe it was the body, maybe it was a cat thing. Whatever it was, around a more scary part in the film, she went for it.

First she roped his leg in with her foot. Patamon glanced down at it, turning red. Then Gatomon, quick as a flash, grabbed his arm and put her head on his shoulder, just as the woman on screen screamed. "I'm scared…" she said, fakely and pitifully.

Patamon continued turning red. He pulled at his collar, which was starting to get tight. She looked up at him, smiling pitifully. "What da matter?" she asked innocently. "Don't 'cha like me?"

Patamon gulped. Then, taking a deep breath, he set his head on hers, trying not to be so darn awkward.

Gatomon grinned, getting cozy. She couldn't Digivolve, but maybe this human thing wasn't so bad after all…

~ * ~ * ~

Kari and T.K., however, were not having near as fun a time. They laughed at the jokes of the comedy show, but in between were long lulls. T.K.'s ears drooped and Kari's head rested on the couch, both were totally wiped.

"I had no idea it was so tiring…" Kari yawned. "Being without your partner…"

"I know what you mean…" T.K. muttered. "When we're back to normal, I'm never leaving Patamon at home again."

"Ditto for Gatomon." Kari sighed. "_If_ we ever get back to normal."

"Don't be so negative." T.K. grinned. "We'll get back to normal! I'm sure we can!"

Kari turned and smiled at him. They locked eyes, then realized their lips were inches away from each other. Their eyes traveled up and down the other's body, then they both turned away.

_This body stinks…_They thought simultaneously.

_Rats!_ T.K. muttered to himself. _I finally get her alone long enough, and I can't do anything!_

My heart's telling me to go for it… Kari thought. _But how do you 'go for it' when you're a cat?!_

She took a deep breath, gazing at him out of the corner of her eye. _Oh well…_ she grinned to herself. _I've got' em all to myself…I might as well get a little closer…_

She edged over to him, then settled down so that they brushed against each other slightly. At first he glanced at her, wondering what she was doing, but then he smiled. The floppy orange ear draped over her and they slowly…easily…dropped off.

When Patamon and Gatomon came back about two hours later, they saw a welcome sight. Their partners, snuggled against each other, sleeping, as the VCR griped at them about rewinding the tape.


	4. Forgetting and Kidnapping

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ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!

I HATE MY COMPUTER!!! I've had to write this chapter three times now!!

Do me a favor, people. I love getting reviews, I mean, who doesn't? But please…Will you send me some fic-related e-mails? It's great to get some suggestions or questions or cheers or just a little note that says 'You're doin' good, keep it up.' It really pushes me to get my stuff out better and sooner. So please? Please?

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have and never will.

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The Grass is Greener…

Chapter 4: Forgetting and Kidnapping

"Whadda mean 'forget'?!" 

Izzy sighed. He'd expected this kind of reaction. As the other, older DigiDestined were at college, the group in his room consisted of the younger ones. "Exactly what I said." he muttered. "You're forgetting what its like to be in your normal bodies. It won't be long before you forget all together…"

"But Izzy…" Gatomon protested, running her fingers through her long, white hair anxiously. "How can that be? I don't feel any different…"

"But you're acting different." Izzy noted the fingers and Patamon's tapping foot. "As a Digimon, and even as Angemon or Angewomon, you never had nervous reactions like that."

"But what happens when it's done?" Kari asked, grooming herself absentmindedly. "When we're finished…and how long?"

Izzy sighed again, trying to phrase it in less complex speech so Yolei and Ken didn't have to translate for the others. "When…When this gets over with…You two… T.K., Kari…You'll forget _everything_."

"Everything?" Gatomon asked.

"Everything." Izzy shook his head. "Even having partners, and your families. You'll just be a couple of wild Digimon…Everything that makes you human…Gone. "

There was silence, then Patamon spoke: "And us?"

"That's the strange thing." Izzy sighed, perplexed. "Somehow…This spell doesn't effect you two in the same way. When it is complete, you'll be fully human, but retain your memories of the Digital World, and having partners. But Kari and T.K. just…forget _everything_."

"How long until then?" Ken asked.

Izzy sighed again before answering. "One week."

Kari and T.K. exchanged upset looks. Wild Digimon? Forget everything? How could they ever forget their partners? How could the ever forget…

"Izzy!" Yolei suddenly exclaimed. "Take a look at this!"

She pulled out of her bad the wooden Drimojimon they'd found after their last battle. Izzy became fascinated by it, examining the doll and turning it over and over in his hands as the others told their story.

"First of all." he said when they were done. "You shouldn't risk Digivolving. It may speed the process up, and will continue to do so every time you do it."

"Aw…" Kari groaned. "I liked Digivolving. Makes you feel tons stronger."

Izzy gave her a stern look. "Don't do it." he warned. "We don't want to lose any of you."

"Izzy…the doll?" Cody asked, pressing on.

"Yes…About this doll…" Izzy turned back to the wooden figure. "You said that you found it after you defeated Drimojimon, right?"

"Yeah." Davis nodded. "It just showed up."

Izzy was quiet a moment, then spoke. "I think I know what's going on here."

"Well?" Yolei insisted after another silence. "Spit it out, Izzy!"

Izzy felt along the finely-carved edge of the doll, noting every detail from the thickness of the wood to the thinness of the paint. Finally, he took a deep breath and began his analysis. 

"This doll…" he explained, holding it so everyone could see. "Is made of a special kind of wood. This kind comes only from one tree, a type of hard elm, which is only found in a certain wood in the Digital World. This wood, when carved like this, can be used in a ritual by a spell-caster type Digimon…that is, Sorceressmon or Wizardmon…and become a living, breathing Digimon."

The kids glanced at each other. "So…this is a power that Sorceressmon would have?" Ken asked.

"Indeed." Izzy nodded. "Gennai and I discussed it during that incident with Arukenimon. We ruled it out after Palmon found out about the Control Spire Digimon."

"So…So they're not real Digimon?" Cody asked. "Just…made of wood?"

"Exactly, Cody." Izzy nodded. He lifted the doll up and blew on it, sending a cloud of fine black ash flying and covering Davis's face. "That ash is part of the ritual. It's from the same tree, and when sprinkled over the doll, with the correct chants, brings it to life."

"So there could be hundreds of these things." Gatomon muttered.

"And they're twice as strong as normal." Ken added. "So it'll be tough if she pulls an Ultimate or something on us, especially without one-third of our team."

"Exactly." Izzy nodded. "It'll be tough, but you have to remember: If it leads us to Sorceressmon, it'll be worth it. She's the only way to get everything…and everyone… back to normal."

~ * ~ * ~

"Those brats…" Sorceressmon growled, putting the finishing paint touches on her latest doll. Her arms and face still ached from the beatings her beloved Master had given her. "I'll show them…Master only turns on me in failure."

She set the doll down, crossing her dark room. "You'll see." she whispered to her reflection. "My plan won't fail this time! My Master will have them, and then…" Her eyes glazed over. She could just imagine her rich reward:

_"My dear, this is easily the most wondrous plan ever concocted." the Master would say to her, sipping his drink. "You're much to good for me."_

"Oh, Master, nothing is good enough for you." she would gush, blushing at his glory.

"How nice of you to say, my dear…" 

Sorceressmon snapped out of her daydream, still blushing. "Yes! I'll do it!" she cheered to herself. She grabbed her now-dry figure and the box of ash. Pulling the doll close, she sprinkled the ash over it gently.

"Live…Live…Live…" she chanted. "Live, you thing of wood and ash. Live and serve my Master…Live…Live…Live…"

~ * ~ * ~

Yolei yawned, leaning against the tree. "Okay…I say we take a nap."

"We have been walking all day." Ken sighed. "It would be nice to take a break."

"Alright then!" Davis yawned, stretching for the sky. "All in favor of breaking here say 'aye'!"

"Aye!" the chorus rang out, and soon they were all napping serenely in the shade of the tree.

Yolei was leaning up against the trunk, Cody had curled into a sort of ball, Ken had one way or another fallen asleep sitting up, and Davis was up the tree, stretched out on a branch. Gatomon was opposite him, on the other side, while Patamon was below her, also leaning against the trunk.

Kari yawned and curled into a ball, like a cat. T.K. folded his ears around him so that he looked like a furry blonde egg. The other Digimon were scattered around the grassy plain, fast asleep.

After about ten minutes, Gatomon glanced down. Patamon was directly below her. _"Now's my chance."_ she thought mischievously. 

Silently, she leapt down. Being human had not hindered her gymnastic skills, and she landed on all fours, quiet as a mouse. She crept forward apon the sleeping boy, silent.

Patamon awoke to a heavy feeling on his chest, as well as a strange warmth on his arm. This was because Gatomon had curled up to him again, hugging his arm and resting her head on his chest.

Patamon blushed red. "Gatomon. I know you're not asleep. What're you doing?"

Her eyes opened and she put one finger to his lips. "Oh, you shut up." she giggled. "We've only got a little while longer in these bodies. Why shouldn't we enjoy it, sweetheart?"  


Patamon felt his ears get hot. He was blushing like a tomato. Gatomon smiled, then cuddled back up to him again.

There was a sudden blast of wind from above them. The DigiDestined were thrown across the grass, while the Digimon tried to recompose themselves. Gatomon groaned inwardly. _"I never get a chance…"_

"What…What was that?!" Yolei gasped.

"I'm not sure…" Ken muttered. "It sounded like a…Snimon…"

The green Digimon suddenly reared up over the hill. "Oh, _that_ was good!" Davis called, stumbling back.

"One of Sorceressmon's, I'll take it." Cody muttered. "We should Digivolve."

"Right!" T.K. cheered as he and the other Digimon raced down off the hill.

"Not you." Patamon warned, snatching his partner out of the air. "Remember what Izzy said about Digivolving."

"You either." Gatomon chastised Kari. The cat humphed and curled up. 

Within a few minutes, all the other Digimon had Digivolved. Snimon fired a few more bolts, then flew up. "You guys take cover!" Yolei called down to her friends. "We'll take care of this!"

With a disgruntled sigh, the four ducked into a small hole in the side of the hill and watched anxiously.

It was apparent easily that the Snimon was an even match for the Digimon they had. The Champions looped and spun and attacked and dodged, but none did much of anything to the attacker.

The Snimon suddenly struck out with one of its blades and hit Aquilamon to the ground. The bird-like champion turned back into the Rookie form, and his partner groaned, barely remaining conscious.

"Yolei!" Kari called, trying to rush out of the hole to aid her friend.

"Kari, stop!" Gatomon cried, grabbing her. "We can't…"

" I don't care!" Kari cried. "I can't stand this anymore!"

"Kari's right!" T.K. insisted, lifting up from Patamon's head. "Without Aquilamon, they don't stand a chance! We've gotta help!"

The two Digimon raced out of the hole towards the fray. Gatomon and Patamon glanced at each other and nodded. Despite all warnings, all precautions and all dangers, they thrust their Digivices forward and began the fight…

Davis wasn't paying attention to them. He was too busy watching his partner. After Aquilamon had hit the ground, the other Digimon thought it too dangerous and deposited their partners at the top of the hill.

The Digimon were already starting to wear down. If they didn't figure out something soon, they'd…

The silver arrow struck Snimon in the back of the head, doing the first real damage in the whole battle. The Digimon's heads snapped around in surprise.

T.K. and Kari were there once again, ready and rarin' for a fight. Their still-human friends gawked. "What're you two _doing_?!" Davis cried.

"What does it look like they're doing?" Patamon asked, appearing behind him with Gatomon in tow.

"But…But you heard what Izzy said!" Cody protested. "Every time they Digivolve, we'll have less and less time!"

The Digimon, meanwhile, were still fighting the Snimon and not each other. The Snimon was weakening. Just a little more would do it. T.K. pulled back his right hand and began building the energy for another attack.

Kari, hovering even with him, saw a black shadow start to creep up on the other Angel Digimon. It looked familiar somehow…

With a shock, she realized what it was. "T.K., look out!" she shouted, lunging forward.

The boy Angel looked up a moment, in time to see Kari shove him out of the way. The black shape came down with what looked like a long staff and struck Kari in the small of the back. Kari cried out in pain, then fell to the ground.

"Kari!" Gatomon cried, watching her partner hit. The brown cat lay wounded and unconscious in the middle of a shallow crater.

In a quick hurry, T.K. let off the energy he'd been collecting, which destroyed the Snimon for good. Then both he and Gatomon turned for the crater.…But Kari was gone.

"No…" Gatomon whispered, searching the hole on hands and knees. "Where is she?! Where's Kari?!"

"Looking for this?"

Everyone's heads snapped up. The black shape, now revealed to be Sorceressmon, hovered above the Digimon, smiling a huge grin. In her right hand she had the limp form, hanging helpless in her grasp.

"Kari!" T.K. shouted.

Sorceressmon laughed a low laugh. "My Master will be quite pleased with this new…offering…"

"No!" Gatomon shouted. "Give her back!"

Sorceressmon's laugh filled the air, and before anyone could do anything, she was gone.

The others stared at the spot she had been. Gatomon's mouth fell open in shock. "N-N-No…" she whispered helplessly. "Kari…No…"

T.K. just stared blankly for a moment, then groaned loudly and slumped in mid-air. He plummeted to the ground-head first, shedding data as he went and turning back into his Rookie form. "T.K.!" Patamon called.

"I've got 'em!" Davis called, lunging forward. He caught the Digimon just before he hit the ground.

"Thanks Davis." Patamon sighed, taking his partner up. He cradled the limp form in his arms, checking him over for wounds.

"Is he hurt?" Yolei gasped breathlessly, looking over the boy's shoulder.

"No…" Patamon sighed. "Just unconscious."

The Digimon stirred and slowly opened his eyes. The other's faces lit up. "T.K.! Are you alright?" Patamon asked.

T.K. blinked and shifted sleepily. "Where am I?" he muttered.

"You're still in the Digital World, T.K." Cody told him. "Right where you were."

"Oh…" T.K. showed no real reaction, but kind of gazed away aimlessly. "And… Who are you again?"


	5. Built In Modem

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I love getting suggestions…they inspire me so! Send more! Send more!

Outta curiosity…I've mentioned the continent of Modem in several of my fics. I've always thought of this place…do you think I should write a fic just about it? I was thinking of throwing in a little Dark Ocean…with a bit of a twist…Tell me what you think! (Ideas are nice!)

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Okay? Okay…

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The Grass is Greener

Chapter 5: Built In Modem

"I _told_ you guys _not_ to Digivolve!" Izzy raged. The others backed away. It was rare to see the red-haired child genius angry at all, and when he was you'd pretty much better do what he said.

"Well…Well what were we supposed to do?" Gatomon asked in defense. "Let them get stomped?"

Izzy glared, plopping down in his chair. "There _must_ have been another way!" he growled. "Before that they had over a week. Now they've got less than three days!"

Patamon sighed and glanced at his partner, curled up on his lap. He was half-asleep, occasionally muttering to himself so quietly no one could hear. Through quite a while of coaching, T.K. had been able to pull some of his memories from the void, but they were limited. He remembered Patamon good and well, but what surprised the whole group when he remembered every detail about Kari, but little of Matt or his own mother.

The fact that he had sparked giggles in Yolei, who'd proclaimed loudly that this was grand evidence that T.K. was _in love _with Kari, and had been all along. This had obviously been met with some determined protests from Davis in particular, but was the only idea anyone had, and Izzy agreed…In a way.

"At this point they can only remember the things that were most important to them…" he sighed. "We can assume Kari is at the same level…If they haven't done anything to her."

He glanced nervously over at Gatomon. The Digimon-turned-girl had been worried sick about her partner all day long. But she was listening intently, as they were here to figure out how to get her back.

"Well?" she urged. "What're you staring at? Do you have an idea or not?!"

Izzy jumped, shook his head, and scrambled to dig in the drawer of his desk. "Where'd I put that…Ah!"

He pulled out something small and silver, which he quickly slipped around T.K.'s wrist. The Digimon looked at it curiously. It was a silver string, with a small white scroll on it. "What's this thing?"

"It's a speacial charm Gennai gave me." Izzy explained, pulling out an identical scroll and handing it to Gatomon. "It should stall the effects of the spell when you Digivolve…but it'll only work once. So when you get in there, you can't change back."

"What does that mean?" Davis asked. "In _where_?"

Izzy punched something into his laptop, then turned it to face the others. On the screen was an ominous black castle, high in the sky that seamed to be died blood-red. "Ew…" Yolei whispered. "Yuck."

"This is where we've targeted all the Dark Energy Sorceressmon has been giving off." Izzy explained. "It's a small castle just off the coast of the continent of Modem. As I've explained before, Modem is the Dark Continent of the Digital World. Sorceressmon and her Master get their strength from the Black Energy."

"So…Who's her master?" Ken asked.

"I dunno." Izzy shrugged. "It could be just about any dark Digimon. We just don't know yet."

T.K. examined the chain quietly, trying to keep all the information that was flying around straight. It was hard to remember much of anything that hadn't happened in the past two days, but he remembered _her_. And, more important, he remembered what happened to her, and his body and soul yearned to get her back.

"Are we all set?" Izzy asked, looking around at the others.

"You bet!" Davis exclaimed, speaking for the group. "We'll start off tomorrow morning. Everyone be here by 10 o'clock and we'll head out!"

~ * ~ * ~

As promised, they set off quickly the next morning. It took a few minutes longer than usual to go through the portal, and when they did they all came out with a burst, which of course took them a few minutes to untangle themselves.

Yolei sat up and looked around. "Yuck." she grimaced, making a face. "What a creepy place."

And it was. Modem, in general, is a pretty creepy place for anyone used to the scenery from Sever. However, if you're from Modem, the greenery of Server is stranger still. On Modem, they have no greenery. They have reddery.

The grass is blood red. The leaves are red, though they turn green and blue during the fall. The wood of all trees are all different shades of black and dark gray. Flowers that are usually white are purple, while yellow is blue, and roses are green. And, may I add, the sky is blood red like some vicious battle just happened in the clouds. If you're used to it, as most people who travel to Modem are, it's really not as strange as it sounds.

After taking all this in, they spotted the thing they'd come to meet: A huge black castle, built on a huge rock that just jutted out of the ground so suddenly it looked like it was a piece of driftwood that had been thrown down the beach and just stuck in the sand.

I could describe the nice, long, boring walk up to the front gate, if you really like. I could tell you haw they saw enough strange plants and, occasionally, low-level Digimon to keep Izzy and Jim busy for years. I could tell you how utterly and completely creeped out and sickened they got at some of the things…but that would take a long time and you'd probably loose interest before we were half way through, so I won't even bother.

Sum it up to say that, after an hour-long hike, they arrived at the front gates of the castle and gazed up with interest.

"Uh…Now what?" Davis asked, breaking the silence.

"I…I guess we go in." Patamon muttered, reaching for the door rings.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Really, Patamon, we're facing a huge castle of black energy on a continent with red grass, Kari's being held prisoner inside by a mysterious dark master and his crazy purple henchwomon, and you think they'll just leave the door open so we can walk right in and…?"

The door swung open with a loud _ca-reeeeeeek_. Patamon grinned at Cody, who was standing there wordlessly, and they started in.

"I don't believe it." Cody muttered, then followed after.

The inside of the castle was even more confusing and disturbing than the outside. Everything in it was pure black, so you couldn't tell where wall ends and door begins, what was a table or a suit of armor. It was baffling and confusing, and it was a good thing that Ken had a penlight with them, or they'd have to feel their way around like a blind man.

"Talk about creepy." Gatomon muttered, taking a step closer to Patamon, who took a step in the other direction to avoid any more embarrassing contact at that particular time.

"I think I saw something move over there!" Yolei squeaked.

Ken swiped his light in the direction she was pointing. "There's nothing there." he comforted. "You're just seeing things."

There was silence a moment as they crossed through the hall, looking for the pathway to the dungeons. Yolei stopped. "There it is again!" she gasped.

"I saw it to…" Cody muttered. "Something _is_ there!"

Davis took the penlight and waved it around in front of them. "Come out!" he called. "I'm warning you…show yourself!"

Lights suddenly blazed on, torches, lit suddenly by an unknown force. Standing before them, staring at the floor, was a tall, dark figure. She was dressed completely in black, with dastardly white skin and long, grayish-brown hair. Her eyes were dark and unemotional.

"It's LadyDevimon." Gatomon growled.

"One of Sorceressmon's products, I'll suspect." Hawkmon muttered darkly. "A guard to prevent us from entering farther."

"Well then." Wormmon buzzed. "We'll just have to get through, huh?"

With a few quick flashes of light, the five champion Digimon stood ready. "Are you okay, T.K.?" Patamon called up.

"Yeah!" T.K. held his arm up, showing the charm on his wrist. "This thing's working fine. I don't feel different at all!"

"Just remember, that charm only works once!" Gatomon called. "So don't get hurt!"

T.K. nodded, then the group dove into the fight.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon buzzed, thrusting his blade forward. LadyDevimon dodged and it pierced the wall behind her, creating quite a long gash in the darkness. It sizzled purple a moment, then faded away.

The LadyDevimon turned to face them. "Darkness…Wave…" she muttered unemotionally, thrusting the dark attack into their midst.

The Digimon leapt back, away from the attack. "Grand Horn!" Aquilamon shouted, knocking LadyDevimon back with the force of his blast.

"Tail Hammer!"

"V-Laser!"

The attacks overwhelmed their fallen-angel foe. She stumbled back in mid-air, wounded slightly. "Evil…Wing…" she muttered, sending out another attack toward Ankylomon, who blocked it easily.

"She's weakening!" Ken called to the Digimon. "Everyone attack at once and we'll have 'er!"

"Then let's do it!" Davis cheered. "Everyone ready?!"

The Digimon started building their energy up for a final attack. T.K.'s eyes were drawn unavoidable to the victim of their attacks…and he stopped.

LadyDevimon looked…afraid. The wooden dolls had never looks scared or worried or…well, anything. But LadyDevimon looked like she knew she was going to die…and she looked familiar…

"Ready…" Davis coached, and the Digimon nodded. "Aim…Fire!"

"Spiking Strike!"

"V-Laser!"

"Blast Rings!"

"Tail Hammer!"

The blasts of energy flew towards their target. LadyDevimon threw her hands up in defense, still not saying a word, as the attacks combined into a single glow and grew to a point.

There was a blast and a range of explosions. But when the smoke cleared, instead of a wooden doll they saw…

"T.K.!" Patamon gasped.

The angel Digimon had thrown himself in front of the attacks, defending the LadyDevimon. He was singed and injured, but at the same time looked strong and determined, like there was some kind of mission to the whole thing.

"T.K., what were you _thinking?!_" Gatomon cried. "Why did you protect her?!"

T.K. groaned a moment before managing to croak two words: "It's…Kari…"

The others stared. "_What?!_" Davis gasped. "_What_ did you say?"

"It's Kari!" T.K. insisted again. "It's her!"

Gatomon looked at T.K. a moment, then at LadyDevimon. That look in her eyes… And the touch of brown in her hair…and her eyes again…She really did look…

"It _is_ her!" Gatomon gasped. "Good lord…that LadyDevimon _is _Kari!"

The other Digimon quickly backed off as T.K. turned to her. LadyDevimon/Kari seamed confused with the fact that he had protected her, and was uncertain exactly which side he was on.

"Kari…" he whispered, holding out his hand gently. "It's me…don't you remember? T.K.…"

She blinked at the name. For a moment, nothing happened, then she reached out one clawed hand for his wearily, muttering, "T…K…?"

T.K. took the clawed hand, smiling and nodding. Kari wavered in the air a moment, then groaned and fell forward, into him. He caught her carefully, and slowly she turned back into the little brown cat.

"She's back…" Gatomon whispered, then cheered. "She's back! Kari's back!"

The cat stirred in T.K.'s arms. He smiled down at her as they descended towards the ground. "How're you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Better." she whispered, a slight smile on her lips. She leaned up sleepily and kissed him on the cheek, causing a light shade of blush to cross his face.

"Aw…" Yolei cooed, partly to the two Digimon and partly to Davis. "Ain't that sweet?"


	6. String

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Argh…the only problem with chaptered fics is that they are SO hard to start a new chapter…And my stupid computer is screwing up with the spell check, so I have to re-input all of the DigiDestined's names, and the Digimon's and everything else! Ugh…

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but if I ever do, the 02 DigiDestined will return to the air and Elvis will marry Bigfoot with Frankenstein's monster as the maid of honor…

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The Grass is Greener

Chapter 6: String

"I see…" Izzy put his hand on his chin, reading an e-mail from the others. "So Sorceressmon's Master put a spell on Kari…Brainwashing…"

"Well?" Tai demanded impatiently from the bed. Figuring the others would need help, Izzy had begun calling the older DigiDestined home from college for this little trip. Tai and Sora were the only ones to have arrived so far, but Matt was on his way, Mimi would be called via Digiport and Joe just had to finish something at his internship and he'd be right there. "Spit it out, Izzy! Is my sister alright?"

"She's fine, Tai." the red-haired prodigy sighed. "Just a little tired, that's all. Just a sec, lemmie check what they're planning for the evening…" he crouched over the keyboard, muttering quietly. A minute later it popped up with a message from Ken, saying they'd stay on Modem, but outside the castle walls, for the night.

"Looks like our best shot would be a rendezvous tomorrow morning." Izzy leaned back so he could look at the other two. "Then the whole bunch of us can attack at once."

"What about T.K.?" Sora asked. "Didn't you say that charm only works once? What'll he do?"

"Apparently he's staying at the Champion level." Izzy shrugged, but a worried look was crossing over his eyes. "He'll stay that way all night…"

"But won't that be awfully hard?" it was Tai this time. "I mean…the only one of our Digimon that stayed in the Champion level that long was Gatomon, and it was natural for her."

"It'll be a strain, yes." Izzy sighed, none to comfortingly. "But…I'm sure he can do it. If he can just hold on, one night…everything'll be just fine."

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. was having trouble sleeping. Being stuck as Angemon wore him out, but he couldn't change back. And he just couldn't sleep, no matter how exhausted he was. But he still had to hold on…for their battle tomorrow…

"Can't sleep?"

T.K. looked down, startled. Kari, who had been curled next to Gatomon, was now standing in his lap, smiling up at him sleepily. "Kari!" he gasped in a whisper. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"Nah…" Kari yawned. "It's hard to sleep here, anyway."

She sat up, stretched a moment, then turned to face him with a worried look on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I'm fine…" he muttered, none to convincingly. "I'm just a little…tired…"

Kari sighed, looking down guiltily. Something about the brainwashing spell had kept most of her memories of the others intact, especially of him, so she was about at the same level as T.K. was. But besides all that, her short-term memory was lacking, and she remembered nothing about being LadyDevimon or anything.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered. "It's my fault. You had to Digivolve early because of me…"

"Oh, no!" he insisted. "It's not that at all! I'd have to Digivolve sooner or later, and besides…" a gentle blush crossed his cheeks. "…We had to save you…somehow…"

Kari was taken aback, but then she smiled. "You're so sweet." she cooed up to him, curling up again.

She looked out over the others, all asleep. She noticed that Gatomon was curled up against Patamon once again, holding his arm. Patamon was blushing in his sleep. "Oh dear…Gatomon's flirting again." Kari sighed. "Shouldn't we stop them?"

"Nah." T.K. shook his head, smiling.

"But it makes Patamon so uncomfortable!" Kari exclaimed.

"Well, it's just 'cause he likes her, too." T.K. laughed. "Gatomon's just pretty forceful, that's all."

Kari nodded quietly, understanding. She yawned slightly, then curled up in his lap. In a few minutes, she was fast asleep. T.K. smiled, stroking the small animal. It still seamed so amazing to him…This creature…this sweet little cat…was the girl he'd secretly been watching for years. And he loved her just as much as ever.

He gave a little half-groan, his body tensing under the strain. Every single mussel in him ached, and his head was splitting in a killer migraine. It felt like elephants were crashing about in his head, fighting and banging on the walls with hammers. With the silence, he could hear it better than ever. The noise in his brain was deafening, and multicolored spots were appearing before his eyes. He felt desperately like he was going to be sick, and really might have felt better if he had.

_"What time is it?"_ he groaned over the noise. He glanced over at Ken's watch, illuminated a bright green in the dark. 4:36 AM, and he still hadn't slept a wink. If this kept up much longer he could pass out and just forget about the whole thing.

T.K. closed his eyes painfully, trying to relax, and leaned against the tree he was by. If only the charm worked more often…if only it wasn't his humanity that was at stake here…if only…

There was a snap from the trees like a gunshot. T.K.'s eyes flew open. Someone had obviously tried to sneak up on them carefully, but had stepped on a twig.

Carefully trying to wake Kari or the others, the champion Digimon reached cautiously back and gripped the golden staff he'd been equipped with. The noise of footsteps grew closer…closer…

Before he knew what was happening, the attack snapped around the tree two feet away like a huge, thick whip, and something dark wrapped around his wrist. He felt something cutting through his skin, long slices, but thin, like very long, very deep paper cuts.

T.K. yanked at whatever it was that was holding him, but somehow it lifted him into the air. His free hand snatched down to try and catch Kari, but the force suddenly crashed backwards, knocking T.K.'s head into the tree with a sickening _thump. _Everything went black for a few moments.

He was conscious again a moment later, looking up into Kari's worried face. "T.K., what happened?" she asked fearfully.

The human-turned-Digimon sat up with a gasp, then realized he'd only been out for a few minutes. The others were sitting up, rubbing their eyes, except for Patamon and Gatomon, who were leaning over him with Kari.

"Something's out there." he said seriously. "Something strong…"

There was the _CRASH!_ of trees being ripped from their roots, and three of them were torn up right in front of the DigiDestined. Sorceressmon stood there, holding her staff cockily. "I knew we'd find you here." she laughed. "Master was right, just like Theseus and the Minotaur."

"These-who and the Mini-what?" Davis asked, confused.

"Theseus and the Minotaur." Ken explained in a calm voice, but he still sounded scared. "It's an old Greek myth. Theseus was a hero who killed the Minotaur, a monster that looked like a bull. The Minotaur lived in a maze that nobody knew how to get out of, but Theseus used a ball of string to find his way out…"

"String…" T.K. whispered, suddenly understanding.

Kari turned to look at him. T.K.'s eyes were wide, looking closely at the cuts on his left hand and wrist. They were long, and deeper in some places than in others. It was like his hand had been bound tightly with rope…or even…

"She and…her master…" T.K. whispered. "They use string as a weapon…and it's sharp…"

Sorceressmon laughed a bit, holding her hands up like she was holding a rope. It took a minute of looking, but there was a thin, clear, almost invisible piece of thread. "This lead us right to ya."

"But…how?" Patamon whispered, following the glimmer of the string. How is it they wouldn't have noticed something so sharp? It must have attached itself to someone…

There it was! He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. It was gone again… no, it was still there! Intertwined between all those other strands…just a little glimmer in a sea of white.

Patamon suddenly reached forward grabbed a hold of Gatomon's hair. The Digimon/Girl let out a bit of a scream. "Patamon, what _are _you doing?!" she shrieked.

Patamon reached in to the hunk he'd grabbed and plucked out a single hair. It came loose easily, Gatomon didn't even feel a tug, and he held it up to the moonlight so they could see. "This what you're talking about?" he growled, clutching something in his hand.

Sorceressmon smirked, then tugged on her string. Patamon let out a bit of a shout and opened his hand from pain. There was a long cut across his palm, bleeding red. "Clever, you are." the spell caster laughed.

"What the…?" Yolei gasped.

"Her 'master' tied the string to one of Gatomon's hairs." Patamon muttered, stemming the blood from his hand with the sleeve of his shirt. "We didn't notice it before because it's so pale, it blended in."

"You got it, you little pest." Sorceressmon laughed, pulling the string up. They could see the tiny red beads of Patamon's blood on it. "My master's thread is the most powerful force in the universe."

"That's what you think!" Veemon growled.

"No, you little pest!" Sorceressmon swung her staff forward, knocking Veemon back. "That's what I _know!_"

There were several quick flashes after that, and soon the five champion Digimon stood ready to fight. Kari had wanted to Digivolve, but T.K. wouldn't let her until the Master had shown up.

"Vee Laser!" ExVeemon cried, firing his attack. Sorceressmon dodged the slow blast easily, and it knocked down a couple of trees from behind her.

"Is that all you've got?" she taunted. The ball of purple energy started to form in the top of her staff. "This'll give you a thrashing! Sorcerer's…"

She was stuck from behind by rings of gold energy. Aquilamon was hovering behind her. "Less talk, more fight!" he shouted back.

Sorceressmon growled. "Why you…" she hissed, pulling something out of the pouch on her waist. "Take this!"

She threw some strange sort of powder into Aquilamon's face. The hawk-like Digimon coughed, blinded by the cloud of purple dust, afraid to breathe it in. "Aquilamon!" Yolei called, "Get away, hurry!"

Her partner killed his own speed and dropped like a stone, crashing underneath Sorceressmon and into a couple of trees. The spell caster Digimon laughed, tossing her head back as she watch Aquilamon try to recover. "What fun!" she giggled. "Squashing the flies that get in my way…"

T.K. was on her so suddenly no one could tell how fast he'd been. Soon the two humanoid Digimon were wrestling in mid-air, the others holding back so as not to hurt their comrade.

"You think you're so tough?" Sorceressmon exclaimed, suddenly throwing T.K. off of her. The angel righted himself in mid-air, grinning some strange sort of stupid grin. "I'm more than a match for you!"

"You were." T.K. grinning, holding something up. It was another piece of string, but this one was thicker, more like kite string than the invisibly thin thread from before. Sorceressmon's eyes widened as the boy snapped it in half. "Without this little guideline from your 'Master', you're nothing."

Sorceressmon stiffened, suddenly frightened. T.K. pressed on, looking more vicious than he usually did. "He was giving you your instructions through this, wasn't he? And what about your 'magic'?" he threw the string away, understanding it all. "I bet you don't have any real magic at all. The only power you have is your lame attack!"

Sorceressmon growled, but the others had caught on. They were closing in on Sorceressmon, circling around her. "So her 'master' is the one we're really after, isn't he?" Ken smiled. "He's the one with all the power, so we don't have to worry about getting rid of a puppet, now do we?"

"Guys?" Davis glanced at the Digimon.

"You got it." ExVeemon nodded. "V Laser!"

"Grand Horn!"

"Tail Hammer!"

"Spiking Strike!"

"Hand of Fate!"

With the final attack, Sorceressmon crashed to the ground. She stumbled away, badly wounded, clutching her staff as she disappeared into the trees. "You'll pay for this!" she yelled back at them. "No one will fight against master Jumon! NO ONE!"

She vanished from sight. The Digimon landed near their partners. "Well." Patamon sighed. "She's gone."

"What'd she call her master?" Gatomon asked. "Jumon, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Cody sighed quietly. "But what's a Jumon?"

The ground around them suddenly began to shake and rock. They struggled to keep themselves on their feet, looking up. The black castle was glowing red with the 'master's rage and furry. "I think we're about to find out…"


	7. Master Jumon

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Damn, it's been a long time since I worked on this…Though why I'm doing so at 11:40 PM in mid-darkness while listening to 'Monsters INC.' in a mystery in itself.

Once again, a BIG thank-you to Salamon2, who, as usual, sent me a jump-starting e-mail so I'd get this stupid thing done already.

Nobody got my word in there, and everyone was wondering "What's a Jumon?"

'Jumon' all together means 'magic spell or incantation'. 'Ju' means magic and 'mon' means word. So 'Jumon' means 'magic word' or in Digimon 'magic monster'. Get it?

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but Sorceressmon and Jumon both belong to me.

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The Grass Is Greener

Chapter 7: Master Jumon

The DigiDestined dropped to their hands and knees on the ground. The Digimon quickly ducked over their friends, covering them. T.K. dropped down to one knee and pulled Kari, Gatomon and Patamon over. The rumbling grew worse and worse, nearly yanking trees out of their roots.

Suddenly there was a huge crash that knocked the trees in front of them right over. As the sound faded away, they opened their eyes to find what looked to be a small old man wrapped in a dark purple cloth, long strings stretching out from inside its folds.

"Ah…DigiDestined…" he hissed. "If that's what we could call you, you pathetic humans."

"Pathetic?" Davis growled, climbing to his feet. "Your little friend thought that too."

"Careful, Davis." Ken muttered. "If that really is Jumon, he has all the powers we though Sorceressmon had, and probably more."

"Exactly." Jumon's hand appeared from the cloak. It had long fingers and was covered in dark navy-blue gloves. The strings were attached to each finger, like a puppeteer's wires. He swiped them to one side and three long cuts appeared on Davis's cheek before he realized he'd been hit.

"And I can do much more than that." he cackled. "Much much more…but you knew that, didn't you?"

He was looking at T.K., Kari, Patamon and Gatomon, all of whom had been glaring at him since he'd started talking. The others gazed back at them, questioningly. "You…" Patamon growled.

"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" Jumon laughed. "I'm surprised you could recognize me!"

"We don't forget trash like you." T.K. growled, eyes narrow with fury. "I still have nightmares about that damn playhouse."

The others stared. T.K. was not one to curse, in any situation. This was bad.

Jumon just continued laughing. "What's that? You didn't like our little game last time? What a bad sport!"

"Why couldn't you just stay dead?!" Gatomon hissed, her voice growing low.

"You know this guy?!" Yolei exclaimed.

"Do we." Kari's voice was determined and scared at the same time. "He started out as one of the Dark Masters."

"It's got to be him…" T.K.'s voice was curled in hatred. "Puppetmon…"

"Puppetmon?" Cody asked. "That explains the strings…But I thought he was destroyed."

"Fools!" Jumon laughed. "It has been easy to rebuild myself! Now I am Jumon, master of the Digital World!"

"You're not the master of anything, Pinocchio!" Davis snapped. "Ready, ExVeemon?"

"You've got it!" the blue Digimon leapt forward. "Vee Laser!"

Jumon simply side-stepped the attack, smirking. "Fool." he laughed. "I have powers you can only imagine!"

"Davis, just relax." Ken warned his friend, using the voice of reason, as usual. "Think about it. Jumon is a mega-level Digimon. We should take him on with the same level."

Davis thought a moment, then grinned and nodded. T.K. looked up from his place. "We'll keep 'em busy while you two DNA Digivolve." he said, taking flight. "Just hurry up, okay?"

"I'm coming too!" Kari jumped up. Before T.K. could stop her, she'd Digivolved to the Angewomon form and was ready to fight.

The four champion Digimon hovered over the cloaked Digimon, but he just laughed a bit as their attacks came flying and side-stepped them. It was only seconds later that Phildramon appeared in the fray. That was all the energy they could muster up.

"Desperado Blaster!" the DNA Digimon shouted, firing the lasers from his hips.

"Fools." Jumon laughed, taking to the air as he dodged the attack. "You still don't know what you're up against. Perhaps you've forgotten my old trick?"

Strings from his fingers suddenly flew out, curving towards Phildramon. T.K. and Kari recognized it instantly, though it had been four years since the attack was last seen. "Watch out!"

It was too late. The string attached themselves to Phildramon's body, and with a yank he was by Jumon's side. "Now…attack!" the dark Digimon laughed.

Phildramon, eyes widening, suddenly lunged forward and struck Ankylomon down with one swipe. The yellow Digimon struggled to pull himself back up. "Ankylomon!" Cody gasped.

"Phildramon, what the heck are you doing?!" Davis shouted.

"I-I can't help it!" the DNA Digimon cried. "My body…it's moving on it's own!"

"It's his strings." T.K. muttered calmly, hovering out of Phildramon's reach. He's using the strings like he did with WarGreymon and MetalGurrurumon."

"We've got to get them off him!" Kari exclaimed.

"Agreed, but how?" Aquilamon asked.

"We need to get them off all at once." T.K. muttered, thinking back to Puppetmon's battle four years earlier. "And while he's distracted, or else he'll just reattach them. Then they'll have to separate, so he can't have that much of an advantage if he does get a hold of one."

"And how do we do that?" Davis called up.

"Wait…" Kari's eyes lit up. "I've got it!"

"Got…what?" Gatomon asked.

"T.K., I know how to do it!" Kari cheered, grabbing his arm. "Just distract him for me, please, get him to turn his head!"

"Kari…are you sure?" T.K. was hesitant to let her do anything that might put her in danger. "It'll be…"

"Dangerous, yeah, I know." Kari insisted. "But I can do this. Don't worry…I'll be fine."

T.K. looked at her a moment longer, then sighed. "Okay…fine…"

Jumon laughed, looking around at his opponents. T.K. was soaring upward, then hovered about three stories straight up in the air. "What's the matter, Angel-boy? Scared?"

"Shut up." he growled, pulling his arm back. "Hand of Fate!"

Phildramon knocked it away easily as Jumon laughed. "Is that the best you can do?" he chuckled. "Or are you holding back for the sake of your poor friend?"

"Heaven's Charge!"

The strings on Phildramon suddenly snapped and the Digimon took that time to instantly separate, unfortunately it was into Chibimon and Leafmon. "WHAT?!" Jumon exclaimed, spinning around.

Kari was hovering behind him, looking very cocky with her arms out. "Got'cha that time."

"Why you little…" Jumon growled. "Take this!"

He slashed his hand at Kari. The female angel didn't have time to move away before the strings were flying at her. "Kari!" T.K. gasped, but it was too late.

The strings cut into her flesh, slicing open long gashes in her legs and arms. Kari let out a strangled scream before dropping like a rock. T.K. dove for her and caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Kari…!" Gatomon gasped, running over with Patamon. By the time T.K. had landed, the angel had turned back into the tiny little cat out of the pain. She was still wounded, so at least she still had a bit of human in her, but this as not the part to have right now.

"How's she doin'?" Patamon asked, putting his hand on Gatomon's shoulder as she took Kari in her arms.

"I don't know…" Gatomon whispered. "She looks…awful…"

Kari stirred a bit, opening her eyes sleepily. She spotted the tallest figure leaning over her and smiled at him. "Sorry, T.K.…"

"For what?" he gulped, eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help out a bit more…"

"Don't be silly." Gatomon soothed, stroking her partner calmly. "You were great."

"We have a problem!" Yolei called as she and the others hurried over to them.

"Yeah." Cody nodded, taking everything in. "Veemon, Wormmon and now Kari are all out of commission, Aquilamon's hurt, and I'm not sure T.K. can last much longer like this."

"I'm fine." T.K. insisted, but he was still looking tired.

"But what can we do?" Gatomon exclaimed.

"What we really need now…" Patamon sighed. "Is backup or something. We need more fighters…"

There was a crash from behind them. The group looked up as Greymon crashed in through the trees, followed closely by Gururumon, Kabutarimon, Birdramon, Togemon and Ikkakumon. Gatomon looked over at Patamon. "Good call."

"You guys need some help?" Matt called. He was riding on Gururumon's back and grinning like a maniac. "The cavalry has arrived!"

TBC…

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Mwahaha…Another cliffhanger! Yes, I am evil and I know it…but hey, at least I got the chapter out, right? Ciao for now!

*~GS~*


	8. Normal

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Okay, before I get into the stuff about how I'm getting slightly bi-polar, I have to, once again, thank a single person: Salamon2. You guys have NO idea how much help it is to have someone like this…lighting a fire under my writer's-block butt and practically writing part of this last chapter!! (I rewrote it mercilessly…) Words cannot express my gratitude!

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Now, for your regularly scheduled author's note:

I'm sorry I took so long, guys…The truth is…I'm not having a very good time writing lately. Mom says I may be depressed, so she's trying to get a doctor check me out, but my pedestrian just died, the others won't take all his students, an nobody else will take me until I'm eighteen…Please bear with me…When I'm like that, I'm just…not in the mood for writing…And then I feel guilty because I should be updating, and then I get more depressed…

Once Was Blind, and Healer's Touch will most definitely be completed. A Feudal Fairy Tale, Digimon Hakusho and House Mates will be updated very, very slowly, and may someday be taken down. Lost is still on hiatus, but will be finished…someday. I promise.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have and never will.

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The Grass Is Greener…

Chapter 8: Normal

The crowd of Digimon faced their enemy, all eyes narrowed with glaring rage. Jumon smiled at them, grinning with dark malice. "So…" he grinned. "All of you together? Well, this should be fun…"

He gripped the strings in his right hand and pulled, shooting them out. The ground they were trapped under blew upwards as the strings rustled towards the Digimon. The ones who could take flight took flight, and the rest jumped out of the way.

The strings leapt out of the ground, snapping in two different directions. One half wrapped around Gururumon's neck, yanking him to the ground, and the other tied around Birdmon's feet, pulling her down.

Matt rolled away and was on his feet in an instant. Sora didn't get so lucky, bouncing twice and then landed with a short cry. Matt ran over to her, helping her to her feet and pulling her out of the way of the next line of attacks.

Jumon laughed, sending strings flying everywhere. The Digimon rolled and dodged, leaving their partners to hide behind rocks and trees to get out of the way.

"You'll learn now! You can't escape me!!!" Jumon shouted in an almost maniacal laugh. He yanked on the strings and a sharp sound echoed through the area.

Togemon moved back a few steps, only to leap forward suddenly, shouting in pain. There were long, red cuts across the back of the cactus. "What the…?" Tai gasped.

"We're surrounded!" Izzy warned, glancing around. "The strings are tied in the tress, blocking all exits!"

"So we don't run!" Davis exclaimed, holding Chibimon in his hands. "There has to be something we can do against this guy…"

T.K. hovered above the group a moment, contemplating the situation. They had 12 Digimon. 2 were Baby-level, useless against the strength of the Mega-leveled Jumon. One Champion injured, unable to fight. And of the remaining nine, two had been previously injured and one was not a Digimon and growing weaker by the second. The situation was not looking good…

_"Damn it…"_ he thought in his mind, clutching his hands into fists. _"If we just had a bit more power…just a little more…"_

Jumon laughed his maniacal laugh, pulling on his strings. The trees directly behind where the DigiDestined were hiding toppled over. The kids started to scatter.

T.K. dove down, snatching Gatomon, Patamon, and Yolei out of the way _(damn, that sounded weird…) _Kabutarimon grabbed Joe and Izzy just asthe trees crashed onto the rocks, splitting into pieces.

"Everybody in one piece?" he called, landing to put his friends down.

"…Yeah, I think so." muttered Tai, who'd leapt bodily over the rocks to avoid the crash.

"What're we supposed to do?" Yolei asked, as T.K. set her back on her feet. "He's so strong…what now?"

T.K. glared up at Jumon, then suddenly lunged forward. Angemon's staff twirled in his hand as he took flight, lifting the glowing sacred object above Jumon. "Angel Staff!"

The puppet-master Digimon was ready, swiping his strings in his direction. T.K. blocked best he could with the staff, then soared upward to hover high over the battle. "You can't get away from me!" Jumon chortled. "You think that body will protect you from this?!"

Two bunches of strings shot from the trees, each wrapping around one of T.K.'s wrists. He let out a cry and struggled to get free, but they held fast. Jumon grinned at him and yanked at his strings, sending a mighty wave of them flying at the boy-turned-Digimon.

"No, T.K.!" Patamon shouted, unable to do anything to help.

"Oh, I can't watch!" Gatomon gasped, covering her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding Kari.

T.K. strained against his bonds as the bright strings grew closer, reflecting oddly in the dim light of the moon. He himself couldn't watch, closing his eyes._ "This can't be the end…Something'll happen…It has to!"_

"_DIE!_" Jumon laughed, throwing them at him.

A light suddenly flashed from below. The light raged upwards, blinding everyone who stood there…

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"…T.K.…"

He opened his eyes. The strings had frozen in front of him, not moving an inch. For that matter, everything around him…was frozen, as though someone had pressed the 'pause' button.

"T.K.…" the voice whispered again, and this time he could figure out the source.

He blinked. Then he did it again, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Finally, he dared himself to speak. "…Kari?!"

Er…well, sort've. She looked like the normal Kari…tall, brown hair, deep brown eyes…but she was covered in the hair, and there were two little kitty cat ears still out of the top of her head. Even her hands were more like paws…it was an interesting sight…

"T.K.…" she came close to him. "I know you can do it T.K.…You can…You're the only one who can…"

She took his hand. For a moment his skin tingled under her touch, then she set something in his palm, gently folding his fingers around it. "Take this…as a gift…I'll be fine."

He stared at her. She smiled gently, pulling away from him. "I know you can…" she whispered, and the thing she had given him started to glow with pink light…

The crowded humans were suddenly thrown back by a rush of energy. The Digimon dove to protect their partners. Gatomon clung tight to the unconscious cat-like Kari, gazing up next to a desperate Patamon. "Where's T.K.?!" he shouted above the rush.

"What is this?!" Jumon screamed, throwing his arms up to defend himself. "Where is it coming from?!"

There was another serge and the light shout outward, covering the grove of trees where they hid…

Out of it stepped a tall, powerful, white-and-purple-robed figure, golden ribbons wrapped around his body. Mouths dropped open in surprise as he walked forward, eight wings wrapped around him modestly. Golden hair came from under the helmet, shaggy and disordered…

It was MagnaAngemon, but at the same time, it was T.K.

"Holy cow…" Davis gasped, eyes the size of saucers.

"It…I mean, he's…gorgeous…" Yolei whispered. "I've never seen anything like it…"

"I can't believe that's my little brother…" Matt gulped in shock.

"I can't believe how cool that actually looks from the outside…" Patamon blinked in surprise. Gatomon glared at him, elbowing him in the shoulder.

Jumon, however, was not impressed. "You think just 'cause you Digivolved you can stop me?" he snickered. "I'm still a level above you! _No one can beat me!!_"

On the last word he sent a wave of strings flying at T.K. The ultimate angel Digimon didn't move, he just lifted the sword in his hand and slashed down at them as they came for him. Another swipe cut the rest of the Digimon free, most of whom plopped face-down in the dirt.

Jumon growled, lifting his hands again. "So, you think you're pretty smart, huh?!" he sneared, suddenly throwing himself forward, held up by his strings. His hands grew into long claws. _"THINK AGAIN!!"_

T.K. side-stepped the assault, bringing the sword down as he passed. Jumon, now nearly cut in half, crashed into the ground.

He pulled himself up, spitting out mud. "Why you…" he growled. "You'll pay for this…"

There was an impact as someone stomped down in front of him. He looked up to be faced with Greymon, the other Digimon around him. "I don't think so…" the dinosaur grinned under his mask, and…

"Nova Blast!"

"Howling Blaster!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Needle Spray!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Grand Horn!"

Jumon went flying, literally. As he hung in the air, Ankylomon gave him a bit of a 'hand' taking off. "Tail Hammer!"

T.K. raised the sword into the air, the instincts of the Digimon in him taking over. He turned it in a full circle, swiping down to create the familiar doorway. "Gate of Destiny!"

Jumon struggled to regain himself, pulling desperately at the tops of the trees. "No…no…this is not possible!!" he screamed, being yanked backwards. "I swear, I'll get you…I'll get for this!!"

With that, the door closed and he was gone.

One by one, then Digimon changed back to their usual forms. T.K. was the last one to do so, sleepily shifting back to the odd blonde Digimon and dropping lazily into Patamon's arms. "How'd we do?" he asked, sounding disoriented.

"We're alive, he's not." Patamon nodded, patting him on the head. "I'd say a pretty bang-up job."

Then from out of the forest came a figure. "Gennai!" exclaimed Mimi, attracting the attention of the others.

"Hello, hello!" the man had a wide grin stretched across his features. "Wonderful! I found you just in time!"

"In time for what?" Tai asked. "Jumon's gone."

"Yes, yes precisely my point!" he held out a small, glowing orb of energy. "I wouldn't want to catch you in the middle of a fight…"

"Is that what I think it is?" Gatomon gasped, eyes lighting up.

"Indeed." Gennai grinned, motioning. "You two first. Put Kari and T.K. down for now."

Under the excitedly watching eyes of the others, the two Digimon-turned-humans did as he said, Gatomon handing Kari to Tai as T.K. took flight. Gennai stepped up to them. "Okay…now just hold very still."

"Wait a sec." Gatomon held up one gloved hand. "Can I do something first?"

"Something you can't do in a Digimon body?" Gennai asked, raising his eyebrow. Gatomon nodded. "Alright then…make it quick."

"Naturally." Gatomon said coolly, turning.

Patamon blinked at her a moment, wondering what on Earth she could do in the few minutes they had. Very suddenly, she reached up and grabbed him by the collar, yanking his head down to hers. His eyes bulged as she pressed her lips to his.

Most of the people watching let their mouths drop open. T.K. burst out laughing, and Yolei, Mimi and Sora dropped into a fit of giggles.

Gatomon released his collar, letting him pop back up with an unsteady blush crossing his cheeks. She grinned at Gennai. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Y-Yeah…ready…" Patamon gulped, still beat-red.

Gennai grinned, holding in a bit of laughter, then placed his hands over each of their foreheads. The ball disappeared into his hand, both of which started to glow. The light spread over the two figures' heads, drifting down their bodies until they were covered from head to foot.

They started slowly to shrink. Hands became paws, short claws began to grow. Gatomon's hair diminished in length and slipped into fur, Patamon's ears grew back to their normal size.

Finally, they sat there, in their normal bodies. Gatomon bared her claws with an excited his and Patamon took to the air. The kids around them cheered.

"All _right_!" Tai laughed. "Now for Kari and T.K., right?"

"…I'm afraid I have some bad news about that." the happiness that had ballooned in their chests deflated suddenly. "You see…of the energy that was able to spare, there is not enough left to change both of you back…There is only enough for one."

"_What?!_" Gatomon and Patamon were suddenly in his face. "Why didn't you tell us that before?! You could've used it on them instead!"

"Even if I hadn't, there still would not be enough." Gennai sighed, sounded genuinely sorry. "It takes more energy to change a Digimon into a human, rather than a human into a Digimon. Because of the relative size, data must be created…in the opposite, it is deleted, a much simpler process. The energy for two of them simply… cannot be spared. And if we do it any later, it will be impossible…"

T.K. hovered just above Tai's shoulder, looking down at Kari with a depressed look on his face. She was breathing evenly, but so weak…she was still out cold…

He knew what he had to do.

"Use it on Kari."

Everyone snapped around to stare at him, even Tai, who nearly knocked him out of the sky. Matt blinked at him in shock. "What did you say?!"

"You heard me." T.K. flew up to face Gennai. "Use it to change Kari back. I'll stay like this."

"…Are you certain?" Gennai asked calmly. "There will be no way to reverse it."

"Yes." T.K. whispered, landing on a large rock. "I'm certain…"

Gennai sighed. "Very well then." he glanced at Tai. "Set her down. We don't want any of the energy getting on you."

He did as the wiseman said, letting her down on a soft bed of grass. Gennai knelt, putting both his hands over her, and transferred the energy.

T.K. smiled as he watched her change back to her normal self. Then he closed his eyes and flopped over, as though in the deepest of deep sleeps. "T.K.!" Matt gasped, rushing forward to catch him.

"Don't worry." Gennai stood. Kari looked the same as she had when Sorceressmon had attacked, except for the fact that she was missing her shoes and gloves. "The last of his memories should be disappearing now…as with most programs, it must be booted down for new information to take effect. He'll wake up a wild Digimon…"

Kari let out a small sound, somewhere between a groan and a whimper. Dark brown eyes slowly opened in a hesitant nature. Gatomon, Tai, and the others were leaning over her. "Welcome back." Yolei smiled.

Kari sat up very suddenly, taking in a small gasp of surprise. She lifted her hands in front of her eyes to see hands…her own, familiar, long-fingered _human_ hands! She nearly let out a squeal of joy at the sight.

"We're…we're back to normal!" she cheered, picking Gatomon up and cuddling her lovingly. "I can't believe it…this is so great!"

"You're right…" there was a bit of melancholy in Ken's voice. "It is."

She looked around, suddenly realizing the damped mood that was hanging around them. Then she suddenly noticed someone important was missing.

"…Where's T.K.?" she finally asked.

Most of those gathered bit their lips. Izzy turned out and managed to thumb at something behind them. Kari looked, and let out a strangled gasp.

"Oh, T.K.!" she cried, scooping him up. He didn't respond, simply lay in her arms, unfeeling. "What's wrong with him? Why didn't he change back? _T.K._!!"

"Kari…" Gennai put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid you're going to have to leave him here."

She turned to his, eyes filling with tears. He calmly turned to the others, a sad look on his face. "It will only be painful…for all of you…to see him like this. He will not remember anything of his life as a human. Patamon and the others could stay and give him a few lessons…what survival instincts cannot teach…but I'm afraid the rest of you would be better off…forgetting him…"

The stunned group was unable to say anything. It wouldn't have mattered if they did.

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Afterward, the DigiDestined went two weeks without going back to the Digital World. Not having the heart to tell Nancy just yet what had happened to her son, they only said that he had 'left' and 'would be back soon'. Matt planned on telling her tonight.

It took Kari a full three days to recover…not from injuries, but from the emotional pain. She lay crying until there were no tears left…and the others allowed her to do so. They all had their own ways, and he was someone they needed to morn.

However, Kari couldn't just take it like that. She didn't want to forget him, as Gennai had told her too. She just…couldn't.

So she went back.

Two weeks after the defeat of Jumon, just before the start of the new school year, she went back on her own. Gatomon met her there, and led her in the direction of a small grove T.K. had been seen in.

He was curled warmly on a bed of moss, day dreaming and watching the leaves fall to the ground in patterns. He seamed to be enjoying himself, but at the same time he looked…forlorn.

He turned as she entered the grove, ears perking up. He frowned when he saw her, taking flight. "Who're you?" he asked, hovering over to her. "Do I…know you?"

She bit her lip, not trusting herself to say anything just yet. But tears began to babble gently out of her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. He looked at her strangely. "Why're you crying?"

Kari finally took in a stuttered sob, grabbing him out of mid-air to pull him to her chest. He blinked up at her, confused, but then allowed her to hold him close, cuddling into her warmth.

Watching from the trees, Patamon picked Gatomon up around the waist, flying her several feet away. "Let's give them a moment alone…" he whispered, and dropped her onto the branch of a tree.

Kari sat in the shade of an old oak, tears still drifting wistfully down her face. But she was smiling through them, as the creature that had been her dearest friend took flight. He looked at her in a bit of concern, hovering close.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he finally asked.

She smiled at him. "Yes…" she whispered. "Yes, T.K., I'm fine…"

"T…K…?" the blonde creature blinked at her, as though the word had sparked something deep inside. He drifted a bit closer to her, bobbing up and down in an attempt to look into her eyes.

She held him a moment in mid-air, then leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss where his lips would have been, had he been in his true form.

Quite suddenly, there was an odd glow of light. Kari's hands flew up to cover her eyes as it spread around them, covering her vision and heat nearly burning her skin…

Then an old voice seamed to call to her, as though waking from a dream. "Kari…"

She let her hands drop from her eyes and looked into familiar, crystal-blue orbs. She stared at him a moment, not noticing that he was practically lying on top of her, and then she dared to speak. "T…T.K.?"

He smiled, that same, half-joking, loving smile he'd always worn. And she threw her arms around him, laughing joyfully, and letting warm arms wrap around her, holding her close. They didn't need to know how. They didn't need to know why. They knew all they needed.

They were happy.

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End.

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Well…there ya go. I hope the ending was satisfactory to you all, and I do hope you all enjoyed this crazy idea of mine. It's been a ball writing it, even if it did take a year and a half…

I suppose now all that's left to say is…Ja ne…See you again…

*~Gemini Star~*


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